Machinery for winding laps



CTI

NTED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN L. CHENEY, OF LOVELL, MASSACHUSETTS.

MACHINERY FOR WINDING- LAPS.

Specification of Letters Fatent No. 28,256, dated May 15, 1860.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN L. CHENEY, of Lowell, in the county of Middlesex and Commonwealth of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Lap-lVinders; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l, represents an end elevationand Fig. 2, a side elevation of my improvement.

Similar letters of reference in each ligure represent like parts.

The nature of my invention consists in an improved method of applying pressure to the lap while it is being wound upon the roll, whereby a greater quantity of material is wound into a roll of the same bulk as those now made-and whereby a small wooden roll, much lighter, and less expensive than those now used, can be employed to wind the lap upon.

The method now in general use for winding the lap tightly upon the lap roll, is as follows: It is first necessary to provide a stout roll of hard wood with an iron shaft running through its center. This is placed in position as hereafter named, and then heavy weights are hung by means of hooks from the ends of the roll shaft, and the roll is thus held down with a pressure acting only upon one side of it. Consequently, as the material forming the lap is very yielding in its nature, as soon as it passes from beneath the pressure, it has a chance to expand, thus losing a part of the effect of the pressure, and moreover the rolls, of which a great number are required, are expensive in themselves-costly to transport-- and cause much damage by being allowed to drop upon floors where used. Now with my improvement, the pressure is upon both sides of the roll, thus confining the material on the roll more eftectually, and besides the roll may be small in diameter, of light wood, and very cheap in construction.

The drawings only represent that part of a machine of which my improvement is the subject, because there are several machines, such as the picker or lapper and the lap head connected with railways, whose object is to make a lap or continuous sheet that must, as fast as made, be wound upon a roll--to which machines my improvement is a necessary adjunct.

A, represents the frame of the machine. B, B', are rolls, the top surfaces of which turn in the same direction and have the same speed, as the lap coming from the machine in which it is made. p

The gears C C uponthe end of the rolls B, B', are driven by the stud gear D or from some convenient part of the machine to which the improvement is attached. A small wooden roll E, called the lap roll, runs- Jartly between and partly upon the rolls B. The end of the lap, as it comes from the picker or lapper-or railway lap headas the case may be, is guided by the workman so that it shall begin to wind about the roll E; he then lets fall upon the top of E, the luted pressure roll F, which, by means of the weight attached to it, presses hard upon the lap and causes it to be wound tightly around the roll E. But the pressure roll F in order to do its work effectually, must have a uniform rotary motion given to it. This is accomplished by means of the gear G, upon the end of its shaft, which gear derives its motion from the gear C, through the intermediate reciprocating gear H. Now as the lap is gradually wound around the -roll E, the size of the roll is constantly increasing. Consequently, the pressure roll F, will be crowded up, to allow for the increase of size-and in order that the gear G, on the end of the roll may be always engaged with its driver H, said driver is hung with two sets of arms; one set I, I', passing from the shaft of gear C, to the shaft of H; another set J, J, passing from the shaft of gear Cr, to the same shaft H, thus holding gear H, so that, as gear G,

rises and falls, it shall always be engagedw with it and with gear C, also.

The apparatus for weighting the fluted pressure roll F, is as follows: K, K', are grooves in which the stands or boxes L, L, slide up and down. These boxes are attached to the ends of the upright racks M, M. On the shaft N are two pinions O, O', which work in the racks M, M. On the same shaft is the large gear P, operating on the pinion Q attached to the friction pulley R. A friction belt S passing over this pulley supports a weight T at one end of it, the other end being confined to some fixed point. It is not intended to confine myself to the precise method of applying the weight here shown, as other methods may be used.

The operation is as follows -As the increasing size of the lap roll crowds the pressure roll F upward, it ulls, by means of racks M, M', pinions (r3, O, gear P, pinion Q, friction pulley R, and belt S, upon weight TV; and the heavier the weight rI is made the tighter will the lap be wound.

U, is a lever to be operated by `the foot of the workman to raise the weight T and remove the friction from the pulley R, so that he may turn gear P backward and raise pressure roll F, up, out of the way, when a roll is suiiiciently full to be removed. Vhen this is done, an empty roll is put in place, the pressure roll F, falls by its own weight to resume its duty again and the workmans foot being then removed from he lever U, the pressure is applied as beore.

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

The method of winding a lap tightly upon a small wood roller, disconnected from any weight or motion otherwise than that given to it by the rollers between which it revolves, by the combination of the three rollers or their equivalent, arranged substantially as and for the purpose described.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my signature this sixth day of February A. D. 1860.

JOHN L. CHENEY.

In presence of- CHARLES A. WELCH, O. E. CUSHING. 

